The Club

by Mandasue Heller

  Pulling a sulky face, Austin folded his arms. ‘Why isn’t JoJo doing it? I bet she’s skiving.’

  ‘She and Vanessa are working for Mr Allen now,’ Jenna told him. ‘So get used to it, and stop moaning. I’ll get onto hiring some new girls first thing tomorrow.’

  ‘Can’t you get boys?’ Austin suggested, perking up a little. ‘We could do with some fresh blood around here.’

  ‘Don’t you mean fresh meat?’ Jenna gazed at him knowingly.

  ‘Miss Lorde!’ he gasped, his eyes sparkling with delight. ‘I never thought you’d come out with something like that!’

  ‘Yes, well, maybe I’m not quite as stupid as I look, eh?’ she replied amusedly. ‘There are quite enough boys already, and I’m replacing girls, so there we go.’

  ‘Fine,’ Austin said, rolling his eyes resignedly. ‘Will JoJo and Vanessa be doing whatever they’re doing for long?’ he asked then. ‘Only I thought we were all working for Mr Allen now, anyway.’

  ‘He’s got a new project of his own,’ Jenna said evasively. ‘So they’ll be helping him out for as long as he wants them to.’

  ‘New project?’ Austin persisted.

  ‘An offshoot club,’ Jenna said, refusing to say more, because it was really none of his business.

  ‘In the storeroom?’ Austin said, his eyes burning with curiosity. ‘I knew there was something going on in there. So, what is it? Can I go and see it?’

  ‘Absolutely not,’ Jenna told him quietly but firmly. ‘If Mr Allen wants you to see it, I’m sure he’ll let you know. But don’t be making a nuisance of yourself,’ she warned then, her eyes clearly telling Austin that he wasn’t to approach Tony about it. ‘This is his and Mr Drake’s project, and they don’t want it to be general knowledge, so keep it to yourself. Understood?’

  ‘Loud and clear,’ Austin said, his mind already ticking over, figuring how he could get to know more without The Sopranos – as most of the staff now referred to Tony and Eddie behind their backs – finding out.

  Leonard Drake! He’d tell him. The man had been following him around for weeks, and Austin was starting to believe that Kalli had been right all along. No, in fact, rephrase that – he knew Kalli was right. Leonard had the hots for him, but he was obviously too shy to come out and say it. Whether that was because he’d been in the closet so long that he’d forgotten where the handle was, or because he hadn’t even admitted it to himself yet, Austin didn’t know. But Leonard definitely liked him, and would probably tell him what was going on if he asked nicely enough.

  A little bit of flirting couldn’t hurt. And why not? Now that he was finally losing weight Leonard was actually quite good-looking. And he was so nice, too – which was more than could be said for Xavier. That two-timing little prick – little being the operative word! – had bitched and whined and complained and scrounged his way through seven whole months of Austin’s precious life. It might be kind of nice to be with an older man for a change.

  All depended how forthcoming Leonard was about this secret project. ’Cos you didn’t get nothing for nothing in this life.

  ‘Time you got moving, isn’t it?’ Jenna said, clicking her fingers in front of his face to snap him out of his trance. ‘You’ll have Fabian to answer to if you don’t get your backside downstairs in two minutes flat.’

  ‘Great,’ Austin muttered, dragging his feet as he made his way around the bar. ‘Maurice and Fabian. Can life get any better!’

  ‘Ignore him,’ Kalli said when Austin had gone. ‘He’ll be fine once he gets down there.’

  ‘I know.’ Jenna chuckled softly. ‘That boy should be on stage, he really should. Anyway, will you be all right without him?’

  ‘We’ll manage,’ Kalli assured her. ‘That thing you were just talking about,’ she said then, lowering her voice. ‘What did you mean by offshoot?’

  ‘I can’t really tell you too much,’ Jenna said, glancing quickly around to make sure that nobody was listening. ‘But Mr Allen and Mr Drake have opened a private members’ club, catering to old politicians and reclusive stars. But don’t tell a soul, because Mr Allen wants it to be strictly private. And I know I can trust you, but some of the others, I’m not too sure.’

  ‘I won’t say a word,’ Kalli assured her quickly. ‘And I’ll make sure Austin keeps quiet, too. And don’t worry about this bar. Me and Diane can run it with our eyes shut.’

  ‘I know you can,’ Jenna said gratefully. ‘And thanks, Kalli. It’s good to know I’ve got a friend in here, because I feel like I’m banging my head against a brick wall sometimes.’

  Sensing that Jenna was troubled about something, Kalli reached out and squeezed her hand. ‘You sure it’s just the club that’s bothering you?’ she asked, her eyes dark with caring.

  ‘Yeah, course,’ Jenna told her, smiling softly. ‘It just gets to me sometimes, that’s all. Don’t worry about me. I’m fine.’ Seeing Melody coming up the stairs alone just then, she said, ‘If anyone needs worrying about, it’s that girl. She’s not been herself for ages.’

  ‘I know what you mean,’ Kalli said, gazing at Melody. ‘I feel really sorry for her sometimes. Mr Allen’s not very nice to her these days, is he?’

  ‘Can’t say I’ve noticed,’ Jenna lied, thinking it best not to go down the road of gossiping about Tony. ‘But I think I’ll go and say hello, anyway. See you later.’

  ‘See you,’ Kalli said, watching as she went.

  Melody wasn’t the only one who hadn’t been themselves lately. Jenna was getting more and more irritable, and looked tired all the time, too. Come to think of it, she hadn’t been herself since Vibes had left. And she hadn’t mentioned him for a while, so he obviously hadn’t been in touch, which was probably something to do with her irritability. But there was nothing Kalli could do but be here for her if she wanted to talk. In the meantime, she would do her best to keep the other waiters and waitresses in line while they were understaffed, so that Jenna didn’t have to worry about that as well.

  Melody was feeling a lot better than she had in a while. And tonight she was particularly upbeat, because Tony wasn’t going to be around to keep an eye on her – for a change. He was going to be far too busy with his secret little club – the one that Melody wasn’t allowed to go into, because it was a ‘man-only zone’, according to Tony. She knew he was lying about that, but she didn’t give a flying fuck. As long as Fabian wasn’t locked in there with him, she didn’t care what Tony was doing.

  Fabian was her favourite-ever man again. He’d been so good to her since that night a few weeks back, keeping her well supplied with coke to ease the pain of smack withdrawal. She didn’t know what she’d have done without him, and she was dying to get something going with him again. He’d been keeping her at arm’s length so far, but she understood that. It wasn’t just the threat of having Tony on his back that put him off, he’d been genuinely disappointed in her for taking smack. But now he could see that she really meant it when she said she would never do it again, Melody was hoping that he would relax and they could start being honest with each other again. And tonight was the perfect time to talk to him about it, while Tony and Eddie were going to be locked away. It shouldn’t be too hard, because she was sure that Fabian felt the same way. And now she wasn’t looking so ill any more, and was dressed to kill, how could he resist?

  But she’d have to wait before she went chasing him down. Zenith had only just opened, and Tony had another hour before his first night kicked off. Better to give it a bit of time and let him get really rolling before she made a move.

  Smiling when Jenna came over to her table now, Melody said, ‘Hi, how are you?’

  ‘Knackered,’ Jenna said, flopping down onto a chair.

  ‘Already?’Melody laughed. ‘You’ve not been open two minutes. How are you going to last the night?’

  ‘With difficulty,’ Jenna admitted. ‘But never mind me,’ she said then, flapping her hand. ‘I’m just moaning for the sake of it. How are you?’

&nb
sp; ‘Feeling pretty good, actually,’ Melody told her truthfully. ‘I was a bit sick for a while, but it’s dying down now.’

  ‘I did wonder,’ Jenna said, smiling again. ‘We didn’t see you for ages, and you didn’t look at all well when you did come in. Tony just said you had a bug.’

  ‘Yeah, that’s right.’ Melody raised a hand to her throat. ‘Think it might have been a touch of Mono, or something. Totally wipes you out, that shit. Feels like the worst flu ever.’

  ‘Ah, the kissing disease,’ Jenna said, rolling her eyes. ‘I caught it when I first went to college. Nasty stuff. Lasted about three months, from what I remember.’

  ‘That’s the one,’ Melody nodded. ‘Still, it seems to be shifting now – fingers crossed. Fancy a drink?’ she asked then. ‘Or are you too busy?’

  Pursing her lips, Jenna said, ‘It is going to be a bit busier than usual – thanks to your boyfriend stealing my waitresses. But go on. Why not?’

  ‘I have no ice,’ Juan said, walking into the dressing room where Tony was sitting with the girls. They were in costume now, their sequinned bras and panties sparkling beneath the sheer negligee-like gowns, but Juan didn’t even look at them.

  ‘You gotta be kidding me?’ Tony frowned up at him. ‘I put a bag in there myself this morning.’

  ‘There’s an enormous bag of water leaking all over the fridge,’ Juan said, folding his arms. ‘I don’t suppose that’s it?’

  ‘Fridge?’Tony repeated, slapping himself on the forehead. ‘Fuck! I thought that was the freezer. So, where’s the freezer?’

  ‘In the kitchen,’ Juan told him, his tone ever so slightly condescending. ‘Next to the sink.’

  ‘Fuck!’ Tony said again, glancing at his watch and seeing that they only had half an hour to go before people started arriving. Zenith was already open, so he couldn’t send anyone through the adjoining door to get another bag, and the girls definitely couldn’t go outside dressed like this. Leaning back, he stuck his head out of the door and yelled, ‘LENNY!’

  Rushing out of the toilet, still fastening his belt, Leonard said, ‘Did you want me?’

  ‘Yeah, I need you to go round to the big kitchen and get a bag of ice,’ Tony said. ‘Seems someone forgot to put the last bag in the freezer like I asked, and it’s melted.’

  ‘Oh, right,’ Leonard murmured, not too thrilled at the prospect of walking all the way around the outside of the club and down the dark alley to get in through the backyard. But he could hardly refuse if he were the one Tony was referring to. He genuinely didn’t remember being asked to move anything into the freezer, but his head had been so full of arrangements, he must have forgotten.

  ‘Tonight would be good,’ Tony was saying now, a sarcastic edge to his voice that didn’t escape the girls, who smirked into their wineglasses.

  Blushing, Leonard turned on his heel and walked away. That old nonsense had better not start up again. He’d had more than enough of people smirking at him before he and Tony hooked up, and he wouldn’t sit quietly by and watch as people started being disrespectful again. Especially not those sluts in there.

  Letting himself into Zenith’s kitchen a few minutes later he found himself confronted by the sight of Austin, wearing nothing but his shorts as he stood at the sink, rinsing out his T-shirt.

  With his back to the door, Austin didn’t see who had come in but he felt the icy draught.

  ‘Fucking hell! Hurry up and shut that,’ he complained, turning around, giving Leonard a full frontal of his hairless chest and pudgy little breasts decorated with gold nipple rings. ‘Oh, sorry, Mr D.’Raising a hand to his mouth, he giggled. ‘Didn’t know it was you, or I wouldn’t have said that.’

  ‘It’s okay,’ Leonard said, averting his gaze. ‘I know you youngsters have your own way of talking.’

  ‘Hey, you’re not so old yourself,’ Austin teased, leaning back against the sink. ‘How come you came in the back way, anyway? You’ve not been out there the whole time watching me, have you?’

  ‘God, no!’ Leonard yelped, afraid that the boy might think him a peeping Tom. ‘I’ve, er, just come round for some ice.’

  ‘It’s in there.’ Austin pointed out the chest freezer in the corner. ‘Is that for your secret club?’ he whispered then, letting Leonard know that he knew. ‘Don’t worry,’ he added, tapping his nose. ‘I won’t tell. I’ll carry the ice round for you, if you like?’ he offered then.

  ‘Oh, thank you, but no. Best not,’ Leonard said, knowing that Tony would not be pleased, even though Leonard would have liked nothing better than to take a leisurely stroll around the block and have a friendly chat right now.

  Austin had been nice to him when he’d been a customer, and a positive delight since he became part of the team. In fact, he was one of the few members of staff who didn’t treat Leonard like an interfering intruder when he went into the areas that had previously been off-limits to him. Like Fabian, some of the others had been rather cool towards him, if not downright offhand. But Austin was never anything less than friendly, and Leonard found himself seeking the lad out more often than was probably decent. But what was the harm, as long as nobody commented upon it – which, so far, they hadn’t. And now that Avril seemed to have lost interest in following him around and was content to get on with her own thing, he was free to indulge himself with these friendships that would previously have incurred her scorn, if not her wrath.

  ‘You all right, Mr D?’ Austin asked, tilting his head to one side and peering up at him. ‘You look miles away.’

  ‘I’ve, er, got a bit of a headache,’ Leonard murmured. ‘Best get some . . . Ah.’ Spotting the first-aid cabinet, he pointed at it.

  Darting in front of him as he headed for it, Austin took out a bottle of paracetamol. ‘There you go,’ he said, pressing it into his hand. ‘That’ll shift it. If not, just give me a shout and I’ll give you a neck massage. Kalli says I’ve got healing hands.’

  ‘Kalli?’

  ‘My flatmate. Gorgeous, bossy little thing. Works the VIP bar.’

  ‘Oh, yes, I think I know who you mean,’ Leonard said, remembering the pretty little Chinese girl with the highly suspicious eyes. Or maybe that was just the look that came into them when she stared at Leonard, because she certainly seemed to suspect him of something. Though goodness only knew what. ‘I didn’t realise you shared a flat.’

  ‘Can’t afford not to on my wages,’ Austin snorted.

  ‘Oh?’ Leonard raised an eyebrow. ‘Are they low?’

  ‘Try limboing under the door, and you’ll get an idea,’ Austin told him. Then, seeing the concern on Leonard’s face, he said, ‘Hey, I’m only joking. They’re not great, but they’re better than at a lot of places. Anyway, I like sharing. Better than going home to an empty place every night, eh?’

  ‘I expect so,’ Leonard agreed.

  ‘Don’t know why I’m asking you that,’ Austin said, laughing softly now. ‘You’ve got Mrs D waiting for you, haven’t you? She in tonight, by the way?’

  ‘No, she’s busy with one of her charity projects,’ Leonard replied. ‘At least, she was earlier. But I imagine she’ll be tucked up in her bed with a book by now.’

  ‘So you’re living it up while you can, eh?’ Giving him a conspiratorial grin, Austin turned back to the sink to wring out his T-shirt.

  Trying not to stare at the tighter-than-tight shorts, Leonard said, ‘Erm, something like that, yes. Busy tonight?’

  ‘I am, but I can’t say the same for that lazy lot out there. If I had to count the times I’ve been asked to do someone else’s dirty work tonight, I’d run out of fingers, toes, and eyelashes.’

  ‘They’re not taking advantage, are they? I’ll get Mr Allen to have a word, if you like.’

  ‘Hey, nobody takes advantage of me,’ Austin said indignantly. ‘I might look like a pushover, but this boy’s got balls – pardon the expression.’ Giggling again, he turned to face Leonard. ‘So, how about you, Mr D? Reckon anyone could take advantage of you �
�� apart from the wife, of course, ’cos that’s a woman’s prerogative, isn’t it? To make our lives as miserable as possible.’ Biting his lip playfully now, he said, ‘Oops! Me and my big mouth. I shouldn’t be saying stuff like that to a happily married man, should I?’

  ‘You’re entitled to your opinion,’ Leonard said, feeling a little uncomfortable with the subject matter, yet thrilled that the boy felt able to speak so openly to him. ‘So, do you have a . . . partner?’

  ‘Not now,’ Austin said, shaking the damp T-shirt out and pulling it over his head with a grimace. ‘I did, but he cheated on me with one of my friends. And one of his. And some lad he met on holiday.’

  ‘Oh, dear, I’m terribly sorry.’

  ‘Don’t you be sorry,’ Austin said, reaching for a tea towel to wipe his hands. ‘You didn’t do anything wrong. In fact, you’re such a decent bloke, I can’t imagine you ever doing the dirty on anyone. I just wish there were more fellas like you out there. But oh well . . . we can’t get everything we want, can we?’

  ‘No, I don’t suppose we can,’ Leonard said quietly.

  ‘Right,’ Austin said, clapping his hands. ‘Best get back to work before Fabulous comes looking for blood.’

  ‘Fabulous?’ Leonard repeated.

  ‘That’s what I call Fabian,’ Austin whispered. ‘But for gawd’s sake don’t tell him, or I’ll be out on my arse.’

  ‘Wouldn’t dream of it,’ Leonard assured him, smiling conspiratorially. ‘Mum’s the word.’

  ‘Jeezus, you wouldn’t say that if you’d met my mum,’ Austin said, shuddering as he headed for the door. ‘She scares the absolute crap out of me. Bit like your man in there – the big fella.’

  ‘Eddie?’

  ‘Yeah, him. He gives me the right willies. Doesn’t he bother you?’

  ‘I haven’t really thought about it,’ Leonard said, realising that it was actually true. He’d been so busy focusing his attention on Tony that he hadn’t really noticed Eddie. ‘I suppose he can be a little intimidating, now you mention it.’